Gareth Austin with Belinda Maheffy I was stocked to have the company of plantswoman Belinda Mahaffy at the opening of her mothers garden 'Mrs Jessie Mahaffys Garden' as part of the Donegal Garden Trail.
Belinda opens up the garden, just outside Lifford, for 2 special opens days per year, the 28th and 29th of June and I was part of the gathering who enjoyed the stories and tales from Belinda on the history of the garden, the story of the plants and her likes and dislikes of gardening....and what a great afternoon we had.
Belinda opens up the garden, just outside Lifford, for 2 special opens days per year, the 28th and 29th of June and I was part of the gathering who enjoyed the stories and tales from Belinda on the history of the garden, the story of the plants and her likes and dislikes of gardening....and what a great afternoon we had.
Persicaria edging the beds
| 
contrasting foliages
|
There are two things that striked me about this garden, was firstly the colour...it was a mad riot of colours and flower quantity, from the geraniums, the ladys mantles, the astilbes a super selection of Potentillas and Hypericums amongst others, the second was the rock...everywhere you look there was banks of rock (an old quarry face), and shelves of rock so its clear that Belinda gardens on a very shallow soil in places, maybe this is why there is so much flower on the plants..I could add a third thing to the list, Belindas holistic approach to the maintenance in the garden, Belinda allows some and manages others but largely the plants have been allowed to self-seed and naturalise the garden, with some key interruptions by Belinda to manage the show, but largely the garden is a low maintenance operation due to the layers of planting and this self-seeding approach by Belinda.
Hypericum galore
| 
|
This great garden is open as part of the Donegal Garden Trail, although there is 2 open days for the year Belinda welcomes visitors by appointment, indeed many gardening societies from around the island visit Belinda and share her enthusiasm for Horticulture. Contact details for this great garden can be found here on the listing in the Donegal Garden Trail. for more of our previous visits to other Donegal Garden Trail gardens see here for previous posts
and to finish here's a wee slideshow from this great garden....now go visit it!!!
and to finish here's a wee slideshow from this great garden....now go visit it!!!
